Bonded warehouse enquiry can proceed after removal of police seals, with goods and records protected pending customs scrutiny.

Customs authorities were allowed to complete the enquiry into a bonded warehouse where suspected stock discrepancies and possible licence breaches were under scrutiny, while police seals were ordered to be removed for that limited purpose. The court preserved the goods and records, and did not express any view on the rival FIRs or the jurisdictional disputes between the departments. The operative effect was to facilitate completion of the customs investigation without prejudice to the parties' rights and contentions on the underlying criminal and administrative issues.

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Issues: Whether the customs authorities should be permitted to complete their enquiry in respect of the bonded warehouse and the police seals should be removed for that purpose, without expressing any opinion on the rival FIRs or the jurisdictional disputes between the departments.

Analysis: The bonded warehouse was under customs scrutiny on the basis of suspected discrepancies in stock and alleged breach of the conditions of licence. At the same time, the police had initiated parallel proceedings on the basis of suspected violation of prohibition law and had placed their own seals on the warehouse. The pending customs enquiry had not been completed. In these circumstances, the immediate need was to enable the customs authorities to finish their enquiry while preserving the goods and records, leaving all rights and contentions of the parties open and without adjudicating the merits of the FIRs or the competing claims of jurisdiction.

Conclusion: The police seals were directed to be removed to allow the customs authorities to complete the enquiry, with protective directions that the goods should not be removed and the records should be preserved.

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